Mr. Soundman, Bring Me a Mic!

This week’s blog is on the topic of audio technicians (affectionately referred to as “sound guys”) at live club shows. Somehow, they are the most obvious yet most invisible part of the performance.

While most small venues provide only a basic sound system that the performers run themselves, essentially for amplifying voices and acoustic instruments, larger rooms will often provide a house audio tech, and this is where things get interesting.

The band/”sound guy” dynamic is a complex one, and the reasons better covered in other blogs here and here. Suffice to say, in some cases, the musicians ask too much and thank too little, and at the other extreme, the technician is too rigid, or simply too uninterested to care. Fortunately, our show at the Black Swan was neither.

Right from the start, things went well with Kevin Gould of Reinforce Sound. He showed up when he said he would, listened to our needs, and quickly set about rigging the stage for us. In turn, we tried to keep the levels on stage reasonable so he’d have something to work with. Kevin remained attentive throughout the entire show. One quick tweak at the beginning of the evening and we never had trouble hearing ourselves on stage for the rest of the night. The feedback from the audience was also nothing but positive.

So, officially, thank you, Kevin for a great evening for us and our audience!